An inventive battle system and unique premise burdened by a predictable story and linear progression.
Oh, how times have changed! These days Square Enix is demanding a divorce, tossing all of Sony's stuff out of the window, and babbling about how her new boyfriend Microsoft understands her more than Sony ever could. All the hot RPG groupies that were hanging around the PS2 during his rock-star days of fame and glory have left long, long ago, and can we truly blame them?
With the cost of development rising sharply this generation and game finance skewing heavily towards western markets, the once-mighty JRPG seems to be going the path of genres like text-based MUDs or the point-and-click adventure game. The capricious march of technology has made Japanese RPGs a risky endeavor. For those like me, RPG veterans nursed on a steady diet of Dragon Quest, this transition has been a very painful one.
I know, deep within my hear, that I am not the only one who has beseeched the fickle gods of video game development for more quality Playstation rpgs while gnashing my teeth and weeping. As such, as much as I would love to recommend the port of Eternal Sonata as our long-awaited JRPG messiah, I simply cannot. To our review.
STORY
The main character is not a plucky, happy-go-lucky teen with a convenient case of amnesia. You are not the chosen hero destined to overthrow the corrupt Western hegemony and metaphorically restore Japan to its highly-romanticized feudal glory. You are not tasked to defeat the ultimate evil. On the surface, everything seems promising.
The premise? Celebrated Polish pianist Chopin is terminally ill, and in his mind he has been transported to a colorful fantasy world where shadows and light conjure different sets of abilities and everyone is apparently named after musical terminology.
With a premise so bizarre, Eternal Sonata seems rife with the possibility of being a uniquely captivating rpg. Sadly, any pretense of originality is thrown out the window shortly into the story... namely, when you meet your first plucky, happy-go-lucky teen companion (the first of many, I assure you).
What begins as Chopin's terminal illness quickly devolves into the wily adventures of Chopin and Friends, all of whom are plucked straight from the shelves of Anime Stereotypes 'R Us. A promising plot involving two warring political powers (Forte and Baroque) eventually unfolds with bland predictability. The possibility of exploring complex shades of morality during a time of war is lost when the story shifts into a generic battle between good (your party) and a remorseless evil (Count Waltz).
The story is not without some inspired moments. Polka, one of Chopin's many companions, reminds him heavily of his long-deceased sister, and plot elements involving this contain some scenes which border on being truly tender. Otherwise, even death fails to evoke an emotional response, because it's hard to care for the passing of a character you've known for a sum total of ten minutes.
Summary: The amount of cut-scenes are well beyond excessive, especially since most of them are droll, if not entirely pointless. This is not a game like Metal Gear Solid, with forty layers of plot twists, metaphors, and self-references. An original premise also eventually gives way to a story which is largely a paint-by-numbers anime story which could have been ripped from any number of other games.
Score: 6/10 (Fair)
Graphics
Much like the story, on the surface the graphics are gorgeous, but in execution they fail to deliver the sum total of their promise. The world surrounding Chopin is bright and colorful: an ideal setting for any idealistic protagonist wanting to escape his own mortality.
If the art direction had involved more than "lots of bright colors" this could have been a real winner. The animation is stiff; characters only seem to have two or three points of articulation, and lumber around like wooden dolls. The anime-inspired character designs fit well with the vibrant settings, but they are not particularly inspired. Some designs, like Chopin and Princess Serenade, show promise. Others, like Polka, fall flat: you would be hard-pressed to identify some of your party members in a line-up of random NPC townspeople.
Enemy designs fair a little better. Some enemies drastically change appearance between light and shadow, though sadly these unique enemy designs are few. Most of the enemies are standard JRPG fodder, and they lack the visual acuity that works so well in other games, whether it's Dragon Quest's iconic cartoon slimes or the demented demons of the Shadow Hearts series. Like the characters, the enemies fit... but they don't quite captivate.
The game's visual performance is solid. Save the rare stutter in frame rate, the technical performance of the graphics is commendable on a platform that is notoriously hard to port games onto.
Summary:The color palette is lush and fantastical, but stiff animation and standard art design keep the game from being visually captivating. The game's technical performance is solid but not flawless.
Score: 7/10 (Average)
Sound
Save for the rare game that splurges on orchestration, rpg soundtracks tend to be a repetitive cycle of town music/battle music/town music. Luckily, this game had the foresight to include a healthy dose of the famous protagonist's works.
The exceedingly linear nature of the game creates a predictable audio experience; as stated, you'll be hearing many of the same songs or themes over and over again. The game benefits heavily by including the works of a musical genius instead of the usual offering of synthesized music. The original works are, understandably, far less captivating. Overall the experience is not repetitive but likewise it's never transcendental.
The voice acting is much the same. All the performances are solid, but none of the characters bristle with personality. Lots (and lots and lots and lots and lots) of inane, one-dimensional dialogue probably doesn't help. One or two of the characters sometimes become grating. such as the villainous Count. How long do you need to elaborate your various schemes? This is not a 1940's pulp fiction novel.
Sound effects, in general, are solid. Enemies roar but they aren't particularly fierce. Special moves in combat trigger static sound effects. Blasters make blasting noises, fireballs explode, and little teenage anime girls squeal in a decidedly Japanese way when smacked around. You know what I mean.
Summary: The works of Frederic Chopin are timeless. The rest is standard fare. The music isn't overly repetetive and the voice acting is solid enough to avoid jokes about embarrassingly bad dialogue. Sound effects are standard, so move along. For a real musical treat, remove the game disc and pop in a Chopin cd.
Score: 9/10 (for Chopin), 6/10 (everything else), 8/10 overall
Gameplay
Ah, what a mixed bag we have here: sparkling jewels and rotten fruit living together in perfect harmony, just like ebony and ivory! (Sorry, one piano joke was mandatory for a game starring Chopin and his Magical Anime Squad.)
Combat is one of the highlights of the game. Each time a character's (or enemy's) turn comes up, a meter starts counting down, and you're given several seconds to walk about and machine-gun abilities as you see fit until time time expires. While simple in premise, in execution it can be quite fun - strategic, even, when combined with the game's light and dark mechanics.
Your character's abilities differ depending on whether they are in light or darkness. Wanna unleash your powerful shadow-based sword attack? Step into your enemy's shadow and pummel him. Wanna use your light-based healing but it's night? Quickly step into a strategically-placed pool of moonlight to unlock your healing abilities.
Combat against weaker opponents is little more than button-mashing till your timer expires. However, as enemies get harder and the light/dark mechanics become more involved, combat can often be a fast-paced game of careful maneuvering as you try to keep the enemies from using their powerful abilities while simultaneously using your own. The turn-based nature of the combat keeps it from ever being truly tense, but often times battles can be genuinely fun.
Sadly, the unique combat system is not packaged with inspired world design. To say that Eternal Sonata's pathways are linear is to say that Pac-Man enjoys his glowing dots a little. You are shepharded from Point A to Point B almost mindlessly, your forward progress through dungeons broken only by enemies and the rare branching path or mind-numbingly simple puzzle. Combat might be that much more fun if there were any exploration elements to be found; as it stands, the fun combat system can't always save you from feeling like a rat in a one-tunnel maze.
Summary: The combat system is inventive and often fun, but fluffy icing can't save an under-cooked cake. The pathways between towns are as linear and predictable as the story. Nary a puzzle element or mini game to be found, really. Character progression is a pretty standard system of leveling and buying new abilities.
Score: 7/10 (Average)
Conclusion
Eternal Sonata was a fun - if uninspired - release earlier on the Xbox 360. Lack of competition on the PS3 does not magically make it a stellar game. The PS3 extras are worth noting: the new costumes are fluffy and somewhat inconsequential, but extra characters are always welcome (two new characters in this version of the game).
If you're close to the point of cutting yourself due to your desperation for a JRPG to play then pick the game up, but otherwise I'd pass on paying full retail price for this game. If your PS3 has any backwards compatibility then picking up some PS2 RPGs on the cheap is probably a better option. If you're dying for a new rpg to play, Valkyria Chronicles releases next week (and White Knight Chronicles and Final Fantasy XIII... eventually).
Buy/Rent/Pass? Buy it if you love sitting and staring at your massive rpg collection for hours on end. Rent it otherwise.
Story: 6/10
Graphics: 7/10
Sound: 8/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Overall: 8/10